Michael Bunting, Ilya Mikheyev, and William Nylander all scored a pair of goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs swept aside the visiting Washington Capitals in an Eastern Conference clash Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Bunting would be the Leaf to draw first blood for Toronto, his 21st of the season at 4:37 making it 1-0. Much later on, Nylander would join the party, making it 2-0 with his 29th of 2021-22 to give the Leafs that lead heading to the 2nd period.
Just past the midway point of period 2, Washington got on the board with John Carlson's wicked toe-drag effort (15) to cut the Leafs' lead in half. That wouldn't faze Toronto, though, as they would fire off 4 straight goals, the first two coming in less than a minute to take a 6-1 lead toward the end of the period. First off was Ilya Lyubushkin (1) at 10:19, followed by Nylander's 2nd of the game (30) at 10:37. Mikheyev then tallied his first of 2 goals at 14:44 for his 16th of the season, and Bunting scored his 2nd of the night at 16:25 for his 22nd of 2021-22 to cap off the 4-goal frenzy. Washington did play spoiler once again, though, this time by perennial NHL villain Tom Wilson (24) at the 19:07 mark. Toronto took a 6-2 lead heading to the 3rd period.
The 3rd period only featured 2 combined goals, the first by Mikheyev's 2nd of the night at just 1:27 to make it 7-2 Toronto. Much later on, Washington once again added 1 back, courtesy of Nic Dowd (9) at 11:58 for the final lamp-lighter of the night.
Team Stats:
Shots: WSH 25, TOR 32
Hits: WSH 39, TOR 43
Faceoff Wins: WSH 22, TOR 33
PIM: WSH 17, TOR 15
Up Next:
WSH: 4/16, @ MTL, 7 PM
TOR: 4/16, @ OTT, 7 PM
Comments